Title

A New Spin on Baseball

Author(s)

Allison Horney
Taylor Lowry
Eric Schwenker
Evan Wray

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

All baseball fans know what a curveball is physically, but what is curveball mathematically, and how does it differ from a fastball? The secret of a pitch lies in its spin. In this paper we shall define the spin of a baseball and investigate the effects of its magnitude and direction by employing data collected by MLB.com Gameday from the league's best pitchers. We shall then employ this model to differentiate between the spin of a curveball and that of a fastball.

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank our teacher Scott Mitter for all that he has done for us. From making waffles to teaching triple integrals, his input and encouragement have been invaluable. We would also like to thank the University of Dayton faculty for allowing us to participate in the UD Mathematics Day and to continue this paper.

Disciplines

Mathematics

eCommons Citation

Horney, Allison; Lowry, Taylor; Schwenker, Eric; and Wray, Evan, "A New Spin on Baseball" (2008). Undergraduate Mathematics Day: Past Content. 21.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/mth_epumd/21